Yamila was born in Argentina and is the daughter of a physician father and her mother is a health care manager. She is of Lebanese and Spanish descent, and Yamila has two sisters, Maria and Yael. Yamila was raised in Argentina, with no original intention to become a model. Everything changed for her when she was spotted by a modeling agent in Buenos Aires, where Yamila was an Economics student. Yamila as the young Argentinean, has gone from an unknown beauty frolicking on an Uruguayan beach in 1996, to one of World's prettiest, sought after models. She is the new spokesperson for Cover Girl, and is a regular in the most recent Victoria's Secret catalogues.

Yamila has been a cover girl for Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire, Glamour and Elle. She was the first Latina spokesperson in Cover Girl history. Since it was luck that got her to where she is, Yamila has never allowed herself to develop the diva attitude many models are known for, despite the glamorous life she now leads. It took a while for the exotic beauty to break through, and she started off by doing department store catalogues for several years. After her work in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Calendar in 1999, Yamila skyrocketed to supermodel status. Everyone from Glamour to Cosmopolitan took notice, as did the people at Victoria's Secret. After Yamila modeled lingerie for their provocative catalogue, it was no secret that Yamila would appear on the cover of magazines worldwide.

Since Yamila's swimsuit and lingerie modeling stint, she has graced the covers of Marie Claire, Elle, the European editions of Max, GQ and Shape. Yamila has also joined the beautiful models for the 2000 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. In addition to her work with the Newport News catalogue, Yamila has recently appeared as one of the newest "Cover Girl" models, joining Niki Taylor, and has also appeared in ads for Replay jeans, Ungaro's "Fleur de Diva" perfume, and Italian cosmetics "Bio-Etyc". Yamila currently resides in Manhattan, with her boyfriend, Italian artist, Giuliano Trivia.